Mullah Akhtar Mansoor

Mullah Akhtar Mansoor (born c. 1970) was the Supreme Leader of the Taliban from 30 July 2015, succeeding Mohammed Omar.

Biography
Akhtar Mansoor was born around 1970 to a Sunni Muslim Pashtun family in southern Afghanistan, near Kandahar. He became a commander of the Taliban, serving as Minister of Civil Aviation in the 1990s. He was pro-talks with the government of Afghanistan during the United States occupation during the Afghanistan War of 2001-2014. On 30 July 2015 he was announced as the successor of the deceased Leader of the Faithful Mohammed Omar, although Taliban commanders Mullah Qaum Zakir, Tayeb Agha, and Mullah Habibullah supported the succession of Mullah Omar's son Yaqoob Omar. Mansoor appointed Sirajuddin Haqqani, a leader of the Haqqani Network, as his deputy leader. Mansoor was criticized for being too close to Pakistan, and his appointment as Supreme Leader of the Taliban was initially believed to be capable of causing a split of the organization.